Card Room

In the face of the large amount of evidence, Jin Xiaoyue finally confessed truthfully to the process of killing Liang Ting.

Her younger brother inadvertently said that Liang Ting's agent was looking for him to do styling. Jin Xiaoyue was already depressed and remembered how she was once refused by Liang Ting and failed to enter the finals. Suddenly, she was filled with murderous rage.

She exchanged identities with her younger brother. She asked him to cut off her long hair and dyed it blond. Then she put on makeup and shoes that increased her height, making her look like her brother.

She went to see Liang Ting on the day of the makeup trial and looked for opportunities while curling Liang Ting's hair. She found that Liang Ting liked to drink water from a thermos. The agent mentioned it was Liang Ting's habit so she thought of poisoning it.

On the night of the concert, when it was her turn, Liang Ting was ready to perform on stage. Jin Xiaoyue used the time when the makeup artist went out to get takeout to sneak into Liang Ting's lounge and dropped the poison into the thermos.

Jin Xiaoyue didn't feel any regret when she confessed. Her expression was cold like she was telling someone else's story. Obviously, her psychology had been completely distorted. Yu Hanjiang could guess her thoughts. There was no hope in her life so it wasn't a loss to drag Liang Ting down with her.

The case was closed and Yu Hanjiang notified Xie Yuan of the news. Xie Yuan came to the police station and happened to see the murderer, Jin Xiaoyue, who was handcuffed by the police and about to be taken into custody.

He walked over with a calm face, fists clenched as he wanted to beat up the murderer. However, he was stopped by the officer next to him. Xie Yuan took a deep breath, resisting the urge to kill this person. He relaxed his hands and spoke in a hoarse voice, "Jin Xiaoyue, you will definitely go to hell."

Jin Xiaoyue just stared at him in an expressionless manner before being taken away by the police.

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xie Yuan and told him softly, "The case has ended. Jin Xiaoyue will be sentenced to death for intentional homicide."

Xie Yuan shook Yu Hanjiang's hand. "Thank you for giving my wife justice. I will go back and arrange her funeral."

Yu Hanjiang asked, "Do you have anything else to say about the Lin Yiyan case?"

Xie Yuan shook his head. "No, I have already said everything I know. I hope that you can solve the case as soon as possible."

The man turned and left, his back looking really lonely. Xiao Lou sighed. "After this incident, he probably feels very guilty. I hope he can be a good father and educate his two children properly."

"Yes. I will write the closing report this afternoon. Take a day off and we'll continue to investigate Lin Yiyan's case tomorrow."

Xiao Lou agreed with Yu Hanjiang about taking a day off. At present, the investigation of Lin Yiyan's case had reached a deadlock. It was time for them to slow down and rearrange the clues.

***

That night, Shao Qingge took the initiative to call Xiao Lou and invited them to dinner.

The four members in the crew couldn’t get away so Shao Qingge only invited Ye Qi, Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou. Ye Qi loved hotpot and it was also very suitable for the cold winter. Therefore, the four of them came to a well-decorated hot pot restaurant and asked for a private box to eat in and chat.

Ye Qi lamented, "The Liang Ting case is really surprising. I always thought the murderer was one of the five members of the girl group but it turned out to be the hair stylist… now that I think about it, Teacher Tony who styled me is quite kind."

Shao Qingge smiled. "Is that the hair stylist who gave you the cockscomb style?"

Ye Qi glanced at him awkwardly. "Chief Shao, don't remember my ugliest hairstyle so clearly."

Shao Qingge continued to tease him. "I actually remember your female clothing most clearly. Miss Ye is very pretty."

Ye Qi, "……"

The two of them routinely bickered. Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou ignored them and simply immersed themselves in the meal.

These days had been too busy. Not only had Yu Hanjiang and Xiao Lou slept badly, they had also ordered only takeout for lunch and dinner. Now Shao Qingge was treating them to hot pot and they had a rare break. They naturally couldn't treat their stomachs badly.

Ye Qi opened his mouth when he was almost full. "Next is Lin Yiyan's case. What do you think, Group Leader Yu?"

Yu Hanjiang murmured, "I am wondering if this secret room has a theme."

Ye Qi's eyes lit up. "3 of Hearts is revenge, 4 of Hearts is a scum man, 8 of hearts is treason… what is it this time? It shouldn't be revenge again, right?"

Xiao Lou carefully analyzed it. "Liang Ting's case isn't revenge. In fact, Liang Ting and Jin Xiaoyue don't have that much hatred. Liang Ting was a judge and gave her a red light. It was fair. Her words might've been a bit venomous but a competition itself is cruel. There is someone who advances and there must be someone who is eliminated. It doesn't reach the level of deep hatred. It was Jin Xiaoyue who had a twisted psychology and blamed Liang Ting for the failure of her life."

Ye Qi nodded in agreement. "That's right. Then is the case about psychological distortion? In Lin Yiyan's case, the body was found frozen in the bathtub with ice cubes. Isn't it likely the murderer is psychologically distorted?"

Shao Qingge added with a smile, "In addition, this murderer is smarter than Jin Xiaoyue. They didn't leave any evidence behind."

The reason why the Liang Ting case was easy to solve was because the range of suspects was limited. Liang Ting was poisoned to death while drinking her water. It was limited to those who were at the scene and could poison her as well as the motive for the crime. They used the elimination method one by one and the one left at the end was naturally the most suspected murderer.

No one had expected Jin Xiaoyue to be a woman disguised as a man but Yu Hanjiang reasoned that she was the most likely to commit the crime. He cleverly had her fingerprints checked and the truth of the case was immediately revealed.

The difficulty of Lin Yiyan's case was that the murderer couldn't be locked on. The incident happened between 3:30 - 4:00 a.m. on the day. It wasn't clear who was in her villa and who drove away in her car.

Ye Qi's thoughts became fanciful. "Could Liang Ting know that Lin Yiyan spent a night with her husband? Liang Ting had a serious cleanliness issue and couldn't bear this, so she killed Lin Yiyan for revenge? Now Liang Ting is dead and we can't find the murderer?"

Yu Hanjiang replied, "We have considered the possibility you mentioned. I will check it tomorrow but it is unlikely."

Xiao Lou added, "According to Ye Lan, Liang Ting smelled Lin Yiyan's unique perfume at the movie festival awards ceremony and knew Lin Yiyan was the one who spent a night with her husband. Therefore, she slapped Lin Yiyan a few times backstage. Liang Ting has a straightforward personality. Since she slapped Lin Yiyan a few times to vent her anger, she shouldn't also be planning a murder after half a year."

Yu Hanjiang glanced at Xiao Lou and nodded in agreement. "It can be seen from the audition program that Liang Ting isn't the type of person with deep intentions. If she had deep intentions and knew how to be tactful then she wouldn't have offended Jin Xiaoyue."

The agent's description also mentioned it. Liang Ting was straightforward and simple. She said what she meant. For such a person, it would be the most difficult thing to suppress her anger for half a year and then carefully plan a murder. She had directly slapped Lin Yiyan a few times backstage and this was considered venting her anger.

Ye Qi heard the analysis of the two people and found it reasonable. "Then it seems we still have to slowly find the murderer."

Shao Qingge said, "This will be handed over to Group Leader Yu. I'll also look for information in the company to see if there are any clues about Lin Yiyan."

The four of them went home after dinner.

On the way back, Xiao Lou thoughtfully looked at the scenery outside the car window with a serious expression on his face. Yu Hanjiang knew he was thinking about the case and didn't want to disturb him, so he focused on driving.

It wasn't known how much time passed before Xiao Lou suddenly turned around. "By the way, the most difficult part of Liang Ting's case is that Jin Xiaoyue disguised herself as a man, correct?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded. "Yes, if it wasn't for the fact that we checked her fingerprints to confirm her identity, we would've treated her as Jin Xiaoyong when investigating. Then our investigation would fall into a dead end because it would be difficult to find the grudge between Jin Xiaoyong and Liang Ting. The motive for committing the crime wouldn't be able to be determined."

Xiao Lou touched his chin. "Then is it possible that the theme of this secret room is in fact… disguise?"

Yu Hanjiang's eyes narrowed slightly as he suddenly thought of a possibility. He pulled the car to the side of the road and immediately called Qu Wanyue. There was a lot of noise from Qu Wanyue's side. Apparently, they were still filming. She took a few steps and came to a relatively quiet corner. She looked around, found no other people and asked softly, "Group Leader Yu, what do you want me to do? I am filming over here."

Yu Hanjiang asked, "What is the situation these days?"

"It's going well. For the first two days, Cheng Yu couldn't enter the right state when acting and often forgot his words. He NGed many times and was scolded by the director. According to Liu Qiao, his agent forced him to recite his lines in the middle of the night and his performance later was much better. In the last few scenes, the director seemed quite satisfied."

She paused before continuing, "Qiao Xuening is also doing well here. Her acting skills are quite good. Many scenes don't need to be repeated and she is much better than Cheng Yu. The director often praises her and told Cheng Yu to learn more from her."

"Has her dance scene started?"

Qu Wanyue thought about it. "According to the shooting schedule, she will officially start filming her dance scene the day after tomorrow. Old Mo only set up the stage with his colleagues in the set group today. Since there are many dance scenes, the director will only take down the stage after a few days of filming."

Yu Hanjiang nodded. "Her legs are still okay?"

"The recovery is very good. She can also control the spinning movements I taught her."

Yu Hanjiang cautioned her, "You should continue to pay attention to her dancing. Xiao Lou and I will come to the crew tomorrow."

Once he hung up, Xiao Lou couldn't help asking, "Do you doubt Qiao Xuening?"

Yu Hanjiang answered, "Cheng Yu is a rich second generation and was just playing with Lin Yiyan. Neither of them were serious. They are sex friends and he has no motive for killing Lin Yiyan. At present, the people related to Lin Yiyan such as her agent Qi Ming, her best friend Qiao Xuening and her school junior Ye Lan all have an alibi. However, you mentioned a disguise just now and it reminded me of one thing. An alibi can be faked."

Fake alibi?

Xiao Lou was startled. "You mean, someone can pretend to be them to create an alibi?"

Yu Hanjiang nodded. "Jin Xiaoyue can pretend to be Jin Xiaoyong so the key to this secret room is likely to be your guess."

6th Anniversary Event Page (Final Submission Date: 15th November)

Proofreader: Fictional Reality